A Quartet of Prospect Callups!

Although rosters haven’t expanded just yet, we’ve already seen a flurry of prospect callups over the last couple of weeks. Let’s dive into four of those names.

Junior Caminero | TB

Caminero was ranked as our second best prospect in all of baseball, so his recall is a big deal. He did make his MLB debut last year, recording 36 PAs during his cup of coffee, and would have likely been promoted earlier this season if he hadn’t missed so much time to injury. Quad issues limited him to just 236 PAs at Triple-A this year, but he still performed well enough to earn his promotion.

Caminero possess 50/70 Game and 70/80 Raw Power, and you don’t see 70/80 Raw Power grades very often! Since Single-A in 2022, he has posted a HR/FB rate of at least 23.3% and ISO over .200. During his time at Triple-A this season, he posted a 30.2% HR/FB rate and .221 ISO. The ISO isn’t as high as you might expect given the HR/FB rate, but there’s a simple explanation — he hit too many ground balls, capping his power output.

His FB% sat at just 26.5% at Triple-A, which is not what you would expect from a guy with his game and raw power. It does give him big power upside though as more fly balls could result in significantly more home runs. He clearly owns massive power — his HardHit% sat at 56.5%, while his maxEV was absolutely elite at 117.2 MPH. That’s monstrous. He just needs to take more advantage of all that power by hitting more balls in the air.

For a power guy, he makes pretty decent contact and has maintained very respectable strikeout rates. That’s impressive, especially given his young age. What’s odd is even given all those grounders, his power, and the better than average IFFB%, his BABIP marks have been ho-hum. Actually, they were pretty good before this year, albeit not great, but finished at just .303 this season, which is nothing special. If he did start hitting more flies, that BABIP might fall even further, but the additional homers would help offsets fewer hits falling in.

Because of the mediocre BABIP, he probably won’t be much of a batting average help and since he hasn’t been a big walker, he won’t gain any value in OBP leagues. Oh, and he doesn’t own much speed, so be happy if you get a steal or two.

Since he’s a righty, he shouldn’t have to worry about the Rays platoon-happy lineups and should be a fixture for a long, long time. That power potential, along with his solid strikeout rate, makes him an intriguing fantasy asset.

Jace Jung | DET

Josh Jung’s younger brother, Jace was ranked 94th overall among prospects with 50/60 Game and 60/60 Raw Power. However, that power wasn’t as present at Triple-A this season, as he posted just a 13.7% HR/FB rate and .198 ISO. That’s still decent, but probably a bit disappointing, especially coming with a mediocre 35.2% HardHit%. The 111.4 MPH maxEV is better though and does suggest upside if he could get to that power more consistently.

Unlike Caminero, Jung has no problem hitting fly balls. He’s posted a FB% over 40% every minor league stint of his career. That means serious home run potential if he’s able to bump up that HR/FB rate. It’s essentially the opposite of Caminero, who’s got the HR/FB rate, but not the FB%.

Jung has also shown excellent plate discipline. He’s walked at a double digit pace everywhere he’s played, giving him a massive value boost in OBP leagues. Incredibly, his OBP marks have been remarkably consistent, ranging tightly between .373 and .377 during his four minor league stops. He’s actually posted exactly a .373 mark twice and a .377 mark twice! As alluded to, his batting averages have been far less impressive. It means really diverging values depending on whether your league uses batting average or OBP.

He doesn’t steal bases, so his fantasy value will ultimately be decided by his power. Unfortunately, over the last three seasons, Comerica Park has been the fourth worst park for left-handed home runs. That’s going to make it difficult for him to amass any fantasy value in shallower leagues.

It’s been three games so far and Jung has started all of them, including a game against a left-handed starter, despite him batting from the same side. Although our Roster Resource page indicates he’ll be on the strong side of a platoon, it’s a good sign that he already drew a starting assignment against the first lefty the team opposed. Personally, I could never understand why prospects already start their careers in a platoon and teams don’t even give them a chance. For a team like the Tigers who aren’t going to make the playoffs, I don’t see why they wouldn’t see if Jung could hang against left-handed pitchers before deciding he can’t.

I would be interested here if I needed power in a deeper league, and depending on the depth of the league, it might also matter whether the league uses batting average or OBP.

Trey Sweeney | DET

Along with recalling Spencer Torkelson, the Tigers just remade a third of their lineup, with Sweeney part of that makeover! Sweeney failed to make the top 100 prospects and was part of the trade that sent Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers. His scouting grades don’t suggest a hitter fantasy owners should be excited about, but he might do a touch of everything to earn some value in deeper leagues.

His HR/FB rate jumped during his first taste of Triple-A action this year, as did his ISO. It was backed by a strong 44.2% HardHit% while with the Dodgers club and a maxEV just under 110 MPH. That’s pretty decent and supports the 17.6% HR/FB rate he posted. Unfortunately, he’s got the Caminero problem of not hitting enough fly balls, as his FB% sat at just 27.9%. That’s odd, though, as he had posted marks over 40% during each of his previous two full seasons of over 400 PAs. His LD% did jump this year, but that still doesn’t fully explain why his GB% and FB% essentially flip-flopped. His ultimate batted ball profile will help determine both his BABIP and batting average potential, as well as his home run upside.

His strikeout rate jumped this year to a professional high, but his SwStk% is perfectly solid, so it doesn’t appear to be alarming. He also maintained a double digit walk rate once again, though this is the lowest he has posted. He might end up a little more valuable in OBP leagues, but the projections suggest he’ll stink regardless of which category your league uses.

What does set Sweeney apart from the two names above is his speed. Although he was slapped with just a 40/40 Speed grade, he swiped 31 bases in 2022, and 20 in both 2023 and this year. Perhaps he won’t be as willing to run in the Majors, but he’s certainly stolen far more bases than expected if you’re just looking at his Speed grade. That stolen base upside could help drive additional value if his power proves unimpressive.

Like Jung, Sweeney is also left-handed and is expected to serve in a platoon, but unlike Jung, he actually did sit against the left-handed starter that Jung started against. That’s going to cut into his value a bit unless the team remembers it’s going nowhere and there’s no downside to giving their prospects a chance to prove they could be everyday players.

Niko Kavadas | LAA

I actually first wrote about Kavadas in early July, as I was perusing the Triple-A wOBA leaderboard. Then, he was on the Red Sox, leading me to write:

While it’s unlikely that he will suddenly get a chance now after the team has gone with [Dominic] Smith to replace [Triston] Casas, I’m intrigued by what Kavadas could do in the Majors, especially if he started swinging at pitches inside the strike zone more.

Kavadas never did get that opportunity to replace Smith, and sure enough, he ended up being traded to the Angels as part of a minor trade. The Angels then DFA’d their cleanup hitter Willie Calhoun (LOL at the fact he was hitting cleanup the whole time and then got DFA’d), recalled Kavadas, and immediately inserted him into the cleanup slot. Seriously, is Ron Washington just picking player names out of a hat to set his lineup?

Kavadas continued to be a force at Triple-A while still with the Red Sox, as he departed the team after posting a 25.8% HR/FB rate, .270 ISO, and .427 wOBA. There are also some other cool numbers here — a 17.3% walk rate, which follows consistently high teen and low-20% marks, as well as a 54.8% HardHit%. That suggests massive power, but then it’s odd his maxEV stood at just 109.4 MPH. It’s weird when the HR/FB rate and HardHit% don’t align with the maxEV. Now I’m curious how this power profile translates to the Majors.

Luckily, he also hits a high rate of fly balls, so home runs could be plentiful. The one red flag is his strikeout rate, which has stood over 30% at every stop since Double-A in 2022. I’ll reiterate what I mentioned in the first post I discussed him — with a reasonable SwStk%, but high strikeout rate, he seems to have graduated from the Nolan Jones School of Passivity, where it’s likely he’s striking out looking quite often and simply being too passive at the plate. I’d rather that being the reason for a high strikeout rate than a whiff problem, though. So perhaps he starts swinging more at pitches inside the zone, cutting down on his strikeout rate, which could make him a real offensive force.

At age 25 and not much of a prospect based on our rankings, it would seem to be a longshot. But if you’re in need of power and play in an OBP league, this is precisely the man you speculate on. Of course, he’s a lefty who already sat against a left-handed starter, so he’ll lose at-bats as part of a strong side platooner. I guess the team just needs to see what the 31-year-old Jack López and his .255-ish rest of season wOBA projection is capable of.